Sketching Session 1

Alright, so this will begin my (hopefully) regular segment specifically focusing on drawing. My hope for these sketching sessions is to provide some sort of helpful advice to fellow artists about characters, and to also help improve my own drawing in the process. I hope this will develop into an interesting segment, as I am going to step out of my artistic comfort zone, and draw things that I would normally be too afraid to draw normally (if you haven’t already noticed, most of the characters that I draw are female… I find that drawing male characters is very difficult, so I refrain from doing- mostly because I am afraid, but also because since I am not satisfied until the drawing looks good to me, it takes me forever to actually draw a male character). I want to talk about perspective, proportions, and the differences between drawing a male and female character, among other topics. That will come later. For now, this session is going to tie together my first two character development topics into something pertaining to art. Specifically, I want to talk about the first few sketches of the character, as these will build on for subsequent works.

Arynna in the Cloak of Shadows

The first thing that I want to note as far as the sketch is concerned is proportions. As I will be taking an in-depth look at proportions later, I am only going to skim it for now. Basically, the best way to make the character look its best is to use proportions that relate to the character’s age. Specifically: please make a child look like a child, and an adult look like an adult. Children should not be tall and long-limbed, with really short heads, and adults should not have huge heads but short, pudgy bodies. The best thing to do is look at the age of the character, determine what a person of that age should theoretically look like (discrepancies can occur when magic is involved, because even physical characteristics can fly off into the night), and then try to make the character look that age.

Second, please try to make your character wear something that he or she would normally wear for at least the first sketch. You do not have to draw the whole character, but there should still be some realistic outfit based upon the time and place. If your character is from ancient times, do not put them in modern clothes. This will make the character seem less concrete if you ever want to reference your sketch while writing the story. You can always play around with the character’s clothing later (which is, in my opinion, extremely fun).

Third, when you draw the character, if possible, it is good to capture part of his or her personality in the piece. For example, Arynna is rather stubborn, which shows itself through her posture and her facial expression. I find it fun to take some of her trait and try to draw them on paper (What would her clumsiness look like- should I draw her tripping on a pebble?). Some drawings are going to end up out of character, but even these are fun adventures! With that said, I wish you luck in drawing your character(s), and I hope that it helps you to visualize what was in your mind (do not worry if they do not turn out exactly how you imagined- this happens to me more often than not, and is just part of the fun).